Crow LandThe Crow (the Bird People) are a Siouan-speaking North American Plains Indian people originally from southern Montana, U.S. The traditional territory of the Crow tribe was the area around the Yellowstone River in what are now northern Wyoming and southern Montana. The Crow migrated westward until they reached the Rocky Mountains. The Crow Native Americans lived in harmony with the land which was emphasized by the their culture, religion and beliefs.

The idea of an individual person having exclusive use of a particular piece of land was completely alien to Native Americans.

Crow Land - Ownership? The Crow fought, as communities, with other tribes over hunting rights to their territory. But the "right" to the land was very different from the legal terms understood by the white settlers relating to individual ownership. The Crow Indians had no concept of "private property," as applied to the land.

Crow Land - Wars and ConflictsThe American Indian Wars is the name used in the United States to describe a series of wars, battles and conflicts between American settlers or the U.S. army, and the Native American Indians before and after the American Revolutionary War. The Crow were at constant war with the Blackfoot and Sioux and sided with the U.S. military in the Indian wars of the 1860s and '70s.

Crow Land - Moved to the ReservationThe Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 confirmed a large area centered on the Big Horn Mountains as Crow lands. In 1868 the Crow tribe accepted a reservation carved from former tribal lands in southern Montana. The Crow tribe now live on a reservation south of Billings, Montana and in several major, mainly western, cities. Crow descendants numbered some 15,000 in the early 21st century.

Crow Land - Dawes General Allotment ActThe Dawes General Allotment Act was passed by Congress in 1887 which led to the break up of the large Indian Reservations and the sale of Indian lands, including Crow lands to white settlers.